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Parachute · FY2021 municipal finance benchmarks

Garfield County · Western Slope · home rule municipality · Pop. 1,366 (2025 estimate); FY2021 per-resident figures use 1,379 · Census finance data FY2016, FY2021

Latest Census Bureau finance data for Parachute: FY2021. Retrieved Oct 2026. Newer years are added when the Census Bureau publishes them. Why the lag?

City website (opens in a new tab)

Compare

FY2021 in brief

Parachute collected $3,247 per resident (including city-run utilities), 31% above the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year, 10% below its peers. Tax revenue per resident sits in line with its peers, but 92% above the state median. Debt per resident runs 91% below peers.

Regional hub: sales tax per resident is 1.7× the Colorado median.

Generated from the figures below. Every number links to its Census source.

Compared with

Nearest on population, household income and region

FY2021 headline figures

Revenue per resident (definition)

$3,247
10% below peers
Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
$3,618
CO median · 227 with a published figure
$2,476
Position
Higher than 68% of the 227 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+3.3%/yr
How Colorado compares on revenue per resident

Expenditures per resident (definition)

Includes city-owned utilities
Peer median
Benchmark unavailable
CO median · 220 with a published figure
$2,208
Position
Not reported for this year
5-year changenominal dollars
Withheld with this year's value

Tax revenue per resident (definition)

$2,053
in line with peers
Peer median
$2,053
CO median · 201 with a published figure
$1,072
Position
Higher than 81% of the 201 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
+9.7%/yr

Debt per resident (definition)

$175
91% below peers
Peer median
$2,006
CO median · 199 with a published figure
$1,411
Position
Higher than 8% of the 199 reporting
5-year changenominal dollars
−15.5%/yr
How Colorado compares on debt per resident

How this number was calculated

Revenue per resident · $3,247
Reported by the city to the Census Bureau

  1. 1Metric

    $3,247 Total revenue divided by population

    = Total revenue ÷ population

    Full definition: Revenue per resident

  2. 2Inputs

    Total revenue $4.5M ÷ population 1,379 (2021 estimate)

  3. 3Census line items

    • A80 Sewer charges
    • A81 Solid waste charges
    • A91 Water utility charges
    • A94 Transit charges
    • B89 Federal aid
    • C89 State aid
    • D89 Local government aid
    • T01 Property tax
    • T09 General sales tax
    • T19 Selective sales taxes (lodging, utilities, etc.)
    • T20 Licenses & permits
    • T28 Licenses & permits
    • T29 Licenses & permits
    • U20 Interest earnings
    • U30 Fines & forfeits
    • U40 Rents
    • U41 Royalties

  4. 4Source file

What the numbers mean

  • Parachute runs city-owned utilities, which add 10.5% of its revenue. Cities that don't run utilities will look lower on revenue and spending per resident for that reason alone. What counts as utility revenue
  • With about 1,379 residents, small changes in Parachute's budget move per-resident figures a lot. Compare several years, not one.

Where the money comes from and where it goes

Per resident, FY2021. Bars show Parachute; the gold tick is the peer median. How categories work

Regional hub: sales tax per resident is 1.7× the Colorado median.

Sales tax per resident is high, which usually means many non-residents shop, stay or work here. Per-resident figures divide citywide totals by residents only, so they overstate what residents themselves pay and use.

On the revenue side, the biggest difference from peers is Utility & transit charges: $342 per resident, 52% below the peer median.

Money in

Revenue

$3,247
per resident10% below peers
Money in: Parachute revenue per resident by category, FY2021, against the peer median. Open a category for its lines and Census item codes.
CategoryPer residentvs peers
$1,490in line withpeers $1,553
$5092.4×peers $214
$35030% abovepeers $270
$34252% belowpeers $714
$28749% belowpeers $558
$2125% abovepeers $201
$5535% belowpeers $85
Peer median of 3 peers · Colorado median of 227 reporting

Money out

Spending

Categories are withheld with the total until it is verified against Parachute’s audited financial report.

Peer median of 3 peers · Colorado median of 220 reporting

Parachute and its peers

The five Colorado municipalities nearest on population, median household income and region. Budget size isn’t a matching factor, so peers aren’t chosen on the figures being compared. Per resident, FY2021. How peers are chosen

Open in Compare
Parachute compared with its peer municipalities, FY2021, per resident
MunicipalityRevenueExpendituresTax revenueSales taxDebt
ParachuteUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 10.5% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.7× the Colorado median.$3,247$2,053$1,490$175
PaoniaUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 29.2% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.$2,448$1,774$901$726$2,642
RidgwayUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 15.7% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 1.8× the Colorado median.$3,618$2,481$2,053$1,553$1,371
FraserUtilities: City-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit) brought in 16.2% of total revenue in FY2021. Revenue and spending per resident include them, so cities that run their own utilities read higher than cities that don't.Regional hub: Sales tax per resident is 5.0× the Colorado median.$7,865$4,813$4,929$4,342$72
Peer median$3,618Benchmark unavailable$2,053$2,948$2,006

Utilities marks a municipality whose revenue and spending include city-owned utilities (water, electric, gas, transit), which raises its per-resident totals.

Regional hub marks a municipality whose sales tax per resident is at least 1.5× the Colorado median: a shopping or visitor hub where people who live elsewhere pay much of the sales tax.

Trends

Every available fiscal year. Lines break where a year is missing or withheld; nothing is interpolated.

  • This city
  • Peer median
  • Withheld (shown on the axis, no value)
  • Colorado median (Census of Governments years only)
Revenue per resident
FY2016 $2,763 to FY2021 $3,247.$0$1.8K$3.6K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $2,373Peer median FY2021: $3,618Colorado median FY2016: $1,746 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,476 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $2,763FY2021: $3,247

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$2,763$2,373$1,746 (224 reporting)
FY2021$3,247$3,618$2,476 (227 reporting)
Expenditures per resident
FY2016 $2,401. 1 year withheld.$0$1.2K$2.4K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $1,940Colorado median FY2016: $1,749 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $2,208 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $2,401FY2021: withheld — Expenditures per resident is 33% of the peer median

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

  • FY2021 withheld: Expenditures per resident is 33% of the peer median
Show data table
Expenditures per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$2,401$1,940$1,749 (196 reporting)
FY2021Withheld (Expenditures per resident is 33% of the peer median)Benchmark unavailable$2,208 (220 reporting)
Tax revenue per resident
FY2016 $1,290 to FY2021 $2,053.$0$1K$2.1K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $1,082Peer median FY2021: $2,053Colorado median FY2016: $705 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,072 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $1,290FY2021: $2,053

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Tax revenue per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$1,290$1,082$705 (193 reporting)
FY2021$2,053$2,053$1,072 (201 reporting)
Debt per resident
FY2016 $408 to FY2021 $175.$0$1K$2K’16’21Peer median FY2016: $829Peer median FY2021: $2,006Colorado median FY2016: $1,072 (all 224 municipalities reporting)Colorado median FY2021: $1,411 (all 227 municipalities reporting)FY2016: $408FY2021: $175

Fiscal year · nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation

Peer group changed in FY2021. Peers are matched each year, so the peer median can step when the group changes.

Show data table
Debt per resident by fiscal year
YearThis cityPeer medianColorado median
FY2016$408$829$1,072 (220 reporting)
FY2021$175$2,006$1,411 (199 reporting)

Questions about Parachute’s finances

How much revenue does Parachute collect per resident?
Parachute collected $3,247 per resident in FY2021, 31% above the median of the 227 Colorado municipalities reporting that year. See the figure
How much debt does Parachute have per resident?
Parachute carried $175 of debt per resident in FY2021, 91% below its peers' median. See the figure
Which cities is Parachute compared with?
Parachute is compared with Paonia, Ridgway and Fraser: the Colorado municipalities nearest to it on population, median household income and region. Budget size isn't used, so peers aren't chosen on the figures being compared. See the peer table
Where do these numbers come from?
From the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, as each government reported its own fiscal year, divided by Census population estimates. Figures that fail quality checks are withheld rather than shown. Sources and methodology

Community context

American Community Survey 5-year estimates and Census population estimates. Where the selected year isn’t available, the nearest earlier year is shown and labeled.

Population growth (5-yr)
+4.4%/yr
2021 estimate
Median household income
$51.7K
2021 estimate
Poverty rate
22.7%
2021 estimate
Median home value
$207.9K
2021 estimate
Housing vacancy rate
13.2%
2021 estimate

Explore further

Also in Western Slope

Revenue per resident, latest published year.

Sources

Dataset: Parachute, CO municipal finance benchmarks

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Please credit “Source: Orivian Municipal Index, orivian.ai/benchmarks”. See the data use terms.

Notes: dollars are nominal (not inflation-adjusted). Colorado medians cover the municipalities reporting that year. Peers: nearest on population, income and region. Definitions: orivian.ai/benchmarks/methodology.Retrieved October 12, 2026 from orivian.ai/benchmarks.

Every figure on this page is read from the published index; nothing is recalculated for display. Read the methodology

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